The meeting took place on Wednesday evening in Mr Arafat's Birch Lodge quarters at the presidential retreat and included officials from both sides. A state department spokesman said: "Our understanding is that it lasted about one hour, maybe a little bit more." He added that the two leaders met "on their own initiative" and without any American officials present.

An Israeli official said: "They spoke about the depth of their responsibility." Madeleine Albright, the US secretary of state, oversaw the talks yesterday when President Clinton departed to address the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured people in nearby Baltimore.

Under the terms of a news blackout announced at the start of the talks, officials refused to give details of areas of discussion or assessments of progress. Before the talks began, US negotiators said they did not expect a major breakthrough this week but hoped the parameters of future talks could be set.